A Moray marathon runner is hitting the road for a mammoth charity fundraiser – tackling a 5,000-mile journey around Britain’s coast.
Simon Clark, 56, will spend a year running the route, as well as camping, sleeping on people’s floors and keeping up with his architectural work on his laptop.
The Kinloss athlete set off from Findhorn yesterday and is hoping to raise £10,000 for charity the Ecologia Youth Trust to support its work with vulnerable youngsters in Russia, Kenya, Uganda and Myanmar.
The charity is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and Mr Clark was keen to help mark the milestone.
“If we can’t give all the children of the world the best start possible, we have to wonder what we’re doing here,” he said.
“It’s so difficult for children in materially poor countries to get to grips with education and achieve worthwhile change whilst being under nourished and shelterless.”
Fellow runners saw him off with an Easter fun run yesterday and people can track Mr Clark’s run on the Ecologia Youth Trust website.
“I’ve been running a lot in the last year and I did a mountain marathon in Tenerife in December which really boosted my confidence,” said Mr Clark.
“The sea will be on my right, I will be going anti-clockwise and I prefer to stay off-road as much as possible.”
Architectural designer Mr Clark plans to work from his computer during the mornings before pulling on the trainers and covering 20 miles a day.
“The goal is clear – I’m running for a charity and I’m running to raise money and I’m running for my sense of freedom,” he said.
“It’s interesting how I run and there’s lots of resistance in my mind to begin with, then probably after 15 or 20 minutes all the resistance thoughts start to fade away and then I’m more with my body and where I am.”
And while some might be daunted by the rugged terrain, and challenging weather, Mr Clark is looking forward to it.
“One of the joys of this is that it’s the coast so the landscape is going to be changing all the time, the weather is going to be changing all the time,” he said.
